As for consonants, in addition to the 18 consonants mentioned above Manchu has one combined consonant ‘rs’ and two doubled consonants ‘tt’ and ‘xx’.

Notes:

Of the 18 consonants, the two that are not pronounced like in English are ‘x’ which sounds like ‘sh’ and ‘c’ which sounds like ‘ch’.

The phoneme ‘ng’ is also found in the Manchu language but is not a separate letter.

The Manchu script contains front and back versions of ‘k’, ‘g’, ‘h’, ‘d’, and ‘t’

In Manchu transliterations and online the vowel 'v' is also often written as 'ū'

In Manchu transliterations and online the consonant 'x' is also often written as 'sh' or 'š'

No Manchu words start with ‘r’ or two or more consonants.

As for endings, Manchu words end in either a vowel or ‘n’. Some loanwords do however end in ‘ng’ e.g. (wang – king). In this respect, it is close to being an open syllable language.

There are sometimes clusters of consonants between vowels such as in ‘abka’ (heaven) and ‘ilha’ (flower) but these are the final and initial consonants of two separate syllables. In most words however, vowels are separated by single consonants.

Out of the above syllable structures, CVVV is extremely rare as it can only occur with the triphthong ‘ioi’; and both VCC and CVCC are also quite rare as they can only occur with one of the two doubled consonants ‘tt’ or ‘xx’ or with the combined consonants ‘rs’.

The Manchu language is subject to the rules of vowel harmony. This means that only certain vowels can appear together in the same word and that the vowel in the first syllable of a word must be of the same type as the vowel in the second syllable. Note: vowel harmony in Manchu isn’t as strict as in Turkic or Mongolic languages. Manchu vowels fall into the following three categories:

Front vowels (阴性) e

Back vowels (阳性) a,o,v

Neutral vowels (中性) u,i

In theory, front and back vowels can not exist in the same word, although there are some examples of this (ajige - small). However, neutral vowels can exist with both front and back vowels. There are two forms of vowel harmony:

This form of vowel harmony involves the vowels within a particular stem (a word with no suffixes) harmonising. In general one word will only have the following combinations of vowels (the first vowel is the vowel in the first syllable):

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‘a’ and one of

‘a’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’, ‘v’

‘e’ and one of

‘e’, ‘i’, ‘u’

‘i’ and one of

‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’, ‘v’

‘o’ and one of

‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘v’

‘u’ and one of

‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘u’, ‘v’

‘v’ and one of

‘a’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’, ‘v’

Note: the vowel ‘o’ vary rarely exists in a word with other vowels, and if it does it is nearly always with ‘a’,’v’,’i’ or occasionally ‘e’, but basically never with ‘u’. The vowels ‘u’ and ‘i’ can go with all other vowels

Stem-suffix vowel harmony involves the vowels of a stem harmonising with the vowels of whatever suffix is attached to that stem. The rules are a bit different for stems with single, double or multiple syllables:

Single Syllable Stems

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Stem

Suffix

a

a

o

o

e

e

i,u

Usually 'e'

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Double Syllable Stems

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Stem

Suffix

a-a, a-v, a-u, o-i, v-i, a-i, u-i, i-i

a

o-o, a-o

o

e-e, o-e, e-u, e-i, i-u, u-u

e

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Note: there are exceptions to the above rules for double syllable stems, but in most cases the above rules hold.

Multiple Syllable Stems

In general, stems terminating in 'a', 'e' or 'o' take the corresponding vowel in the suffix.

Stems with multiple syllables terminating in 'i' or 'u' and proceded by 'e' generally take 'e' in the suffix.

Stems with multiple syllables terminating in 'i' or 'u' and proceded by 'a', 'u' or 'v' generally take 'a' in the suffix.

Stems with multiple syllables with 'u' and 'v' generally take 'a' in the suffix.

Notes:

Some suffixes such as ‘de’ ‘-bu’ etc are fixed and do not change.

Some words use the vowels ‘a’ and ‘e’ to distinguish between masculine and feminine concepts, e.g. haha (man), hehe (woman).

There are two forms of the letters ‘k’, ‘g’, and ‘h’, a back form for the vowels ‘a’,’o’,’v’, and a front form for the vowels ‘e’,’u’,’i’.

There are also two forms of the letters ‘d’, and ‘t’, a back form for the letters ‘a’, ‘o’, ‘i’, and a front form for the letters ‘e’ and ‘u’.

Manchu nouns have number and case but do not really have gender. Nouns can consist solely of a stem such as 'bithe' (book), be formed by adding suffixes to other words, or be formed by adding two nouns together such as 'ahvn deo' (brothers).

The most common suffixes that can be added to words to form nouns include:

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Suffixes used with verb stems

Examples

-n

tacin – Learning. From the verb stem tacimbi (to study)

-gan, -gen, -gon, -han, -hen, -hon

nirugan – Drawing. From the verb stem nirumbi (to draw)

-ku, -kv

anakv - Key. From the verb stem anambi (to push)

-cun

buyecun - Love. From the verb stem buyembi (to love)

Suffixes used with nouns and verbs

Examples

-si

usisi – Farmer. From the noun usin (field)

-ci

aduci - Herdsman. From the noun adun (herd)

-ji, -lji, -mji, -nju

boigoji – Host. From the noun boigon (family)

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Note: of the above suffixes, the suffixes –ku,-kv are used for instruments, the suffix –cun is used for abstract concepts, and the suffixes –si, -ci, and –ji are used to denote people by what they do (Gorelova, M. P.198). When adding suffixes to nouns, the final ‘-n’ is often dropped.

Nouns usually do not have gender, although some obviously masculine nouns have masculine vowels, while feminine nouns have feminine vowels, e.g. haha (man), hehe (woman), ama (father) and eme (mother).

As with nouns, personal pronouns in Manchu also have different cases. The normal form of Manchu personal pronouns is expressed by using the nominative case. See following table for list of all personal pronouns in the 5 different cases:

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Personal Pronoun

Nominative

Genitive

Dative/Loctv

Accusative

Ablative

Singular

1st Person

bi

mini

minde

mimbe

minci

2nd Person

si

sini

sinde

simbe

sinci

3rd Person

i

ini

inde

imbe

inci

Plural

1st Person (incl.)

muse

musei

musede

musebe

museci

1st Person (excl.)

be

meni

mende

membe

menci

2nd Person

suwe

suweni

suwende

suwembe

suwenci

3rd Person

ce

ceni

cende

cembe

cenci

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The personal pronoun in the nominative case is the ordinary form of the pronoun, e.g. bi = I, si = you, i = he/she/it, be = we (excl.), muse = we (incl.), suwe = you (plural), ce = they/them

As with Chinese, Manchu has two versions of the 1st plural personal pronoun: an exclusive version ‘be’, and an inclusive version ‘muse’.

To express the idea of oneself, you would use the genitive form of the personal pronoun and follow it with the word ‘beye’ (body). E.g. mini beye (myself), sini beye (yourself).

The possessive pronoun is formed by adding the suffix ‘-ngge’ after the genitive form of the personal pronoun. E.g. mini-ngge (mine). Ere bithe miningge (this book is mine).

The suffix '-ngge' is a possessive suffix which does not change with the rules of vowel harmony. When written it is proceeded by the genetive case and therefore becomes one of '-ingge' or '-ningge'. In the case of use with personal pronouns, it is already proceeded by the genitive form of the pronoun so remains '-ngge'. It can be translated as belong to, and is often written separately from the noun. E.g. ejen ningge - belonging to the master.

Ordinal numbers in Manchu are formed by adding ‘-ci’ to the end of the cardinal form of the number. In the case of numbers that end in an ‘n’, the final n is dropped (except for in the case of juwan and tumen). E.g:

These are adjectives that are formed by adding suffixes (subject to the rules of vowel harmony) to nouns, verbs, or original adjectives. Adjectives formed from other words can be divided into:

Adjectives formed from nouns

These adjectives are formed by adding the suffix ‘-ngge’, ‘-ngga’, or ‘-nggo’ to the end of a noun. This suffix is similar in many ways to Chinese 的 (except it is not a true possessive suffix). For example, enduri (spirit/神) --> enduri-ngge (holy/神圣的) and can basically be translated as "to possess the quality of....".

The suffix '-ngge' but not '-ngga' or '-nggo' later became a proper possessive suffix (like Chinese 的). When written it is proceeded by the genetive case and therefore becomes one of '-ingge' or '-ningge'. In the case of use with personal pronouns, it is already proceeded by the genitive form of the pronoun so remains '-ngge'. It can be translated as 'belongging to', and is often written separately from the noun. E.g. ejen ningge - belonging to the master.

Adjectives formed from verbs

These can be divided into three types:

Adjectives that can be formed from verbs by adding the suffix ‘-cuka’, ‘-cuke’.

Adjectives that can be formed from verbs by adding the suffix (these are also occasionally used to form adjectives from nouns) ‘-shvn’, ‘-shun’ ‘-hvn’, ‘-hun’.

Adjectives that can be formed from verbs by adding the suffix ‘-su’, ‘-be’, ‘-ba’.

Adjectives formed from original adjectives

These adjectives are formed by adding the suffix ‘-linggv’, ‘-linggu’ to the end of original adjectives. Note: adjectives that end in an ‘n’ drop the ‘n’ when adding the suffix ‘-linggu’, or ‘-linggv’. The suffix ‘-linggu’ can be translated as ‘very’. E.g. if you add ‘-lingu’ to the adjective amba (big) you get ambalinggu (huge).

This is the normal form of the adjective and does not include any suffixes. E.g:

den alin (high mountain)

ice bithe (new book)

The comparative form (比较级)

This form only applies to original adjectives, and involves a comparison, i.e. bigger, smaller etc. To form the comparative form a suffix is added to the end of the adjective to change its meaning. The main suffixes are:

-kan (-ken, -kon, -gan, -gen, -cen)

-liyan (-liyen), -meliyan

-shun, -shvn

-si

-linggv (-linggu) (see 5.2)

With these suffixes the final ‘n’ of the adjective stem is dropped when the suffix is added. E.g. ‘den’ (high) + -ken becomes ‘deken’ (higher, comparatively high). Examples of the use of these suffixes include:

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Suffix

Meaning

Example

-kan, (-ken, -kon, -gan, -gen, -cen)

Rather, somewhat

ambakan (somewhat bigger)

-liyan (-liyen), -meliyan

A bit, somewhat

adaliliyan (a bit similar)

-linggv (-linggu)

Very

ambalinggv (huge, very big)

-shvn (-shun)

Rather

aibishvn (rather swollen)

-si

Rather

ajigesi (rather small)

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The comparative can also be formed by placing the word ‘majige’ (a bit) before the adjective. E.g majige amba (a bit big). When creating comparative constructions, the ablative case marker is used:

E.g. nikan gisun ci manju gisun ja - Manchu is easier than Chinese

E.g. emu inenggi ci emu inenggi halukan oho - Each day is hotter than the one before

The superlative form (最高级)

The superlative form of the Manchu can be formed by placing an adverb before the adjective. For example:

‘jaci’ - jaci amba – very big

‘umesi’ – umesi sain – very good

It can also be formed by using the comparative construction, or by use of the genetive case. For example:

geren ci amba - bigger than all (the biggest)

ujui uju oyonggo baita - the first of the first important thing (the most important thing)

Manchu verbs (except for three non-changing verbs) all consist of a stem and a final. The dictionary form of a Manchu verb is the present tense form, which includes the verb stem and the suffix ‘-mbi’. E.g.: Arambi (to write) consists of ara + -mbi. All changes for mood or tense in Manchu verbs are done by removing the suffix ‘-mbi’ and by adding another suffix to indicate the tense or mood of the verb (more on this later).

Manchu verbs can be divided into:

Original verbs (固有动词) – These are verbs that are not derived from nouns, adjectives or other verbs and include verbs such as ‘arambi’ (to write) etc.

Verbs derived from other words (派生动词) – These are verbs that are derived from either nouns, adjectives or other verbs (see voice of Manchu verbs).

Verbs derived from nouns and adjectives are usually formed by adding one of the following suffixes (see table for list of common suffixes) to the end of a noun or an adjective (note the final ‘n’ of the noun or adjective being turned into a verb is usually dropped):

Non-changing verbs – These are three verbs that only have one fixed form. These verbs consist of only a verb stem, although grammatically, they feature all the same properties as regular and irregular verbs. The three non-changing verbs are:

Unlike say French, the conjugation of Manchu verbs is constant regardless of the person doing the action. I.e. the conjugation for you went and I went would both be 'genehe'. This means only one suffix has to be learnt for each of the tenses. It is convenient to split Manchu tenses into simple tenses (of which there are three) and complex tenses all of which are formed from the simple tenses with the addition of either converbs (such as -me or -fi) or auxiliary verbs (such as bi). See table:

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Tense (时)

Suffix

Example

Translation

Simple Tenses

Present/Future

-mbi

arambi

I write / I shall write

Present/Future

-ra (-re, -ro)

arara

I shall write / I write

Past

-ha (-he, -ho, -ka, -ke, -ko)

araha

I wrote

Past tenses

Indefinite Past

-habi (-hebi, -hobi)

arahabi

I have written

Pluperfect

-ha bihe, -ha bihebi

araha bihe

I had written

Imperfect 1

-mbihe, -mbihebi

arambihe

I was writing

Imperfect 2

-me bihe, -me bihebi

arame bihebi

I was writing

Present tenses

Present Continuous 1

-me bi, -me bimbi

arame bi

I am writing

Present Continuous 2

-me ilihabi

arame ilihabi

I am writing

Present Continuous 3

-mahabi

aramahabi

I am writing

Present Continuous 4

-me bisire + noun

obome bisire jui

The child who is washing

Present Continuous 5

-me bisire + postpostn

obome bisire de

While in the process of washing

Past Continuous 1

-ha bi

araha bi

Still writing (仍然在写)

Past Continuous 2

-fi bi

arafi bi

Still writing (还在写)

Past Continuous 3

-hai bi (-hei bi, hoi bi)

arahai bi

I’ve been continuously writing 一直写

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Some examples of the different tenses include:

Present/future tense 1

bi niyengniyeri forgon be cihalambi - I love spring

te absi genembi? - Where are you going now?

suwayan bira mederi de eyeme dosimbi - The yellow river flows into the sea

Present/future tense 2

mini ama Harbin de ere manju gisun tacire bithe be udaha - In Harbin my father bought this book to learn Manchu

cimari ilire ilirakv be sarkv - I don't know if we can stop tomorrow or not

Past tense

Beijing de niyengniyeri isinaha - In Beijing spring has arrived

birai juhe emgeri weme deribuha - The river ice has already started to melt

ilha yafan de hacin hacin i ilha gemu ilaka - In the gardens all types of flowers are flowering

Indefinite past

sini hendurengge inu, mini mujilen de inu uttu gvnihabi - What you said is true, in my heart I had thought that too

Manchu verbs have seven different voices (态). The first voice is the subjective voice, which is the normal verb form. All other voices are formed by adding a suffix between the stem of the verb and the final ‘-mbi’. This forms a new verb. For example: taci-mbi (to study), taci-bu-mbi (to teach). Tacibumbi is the active form of the verb tacimbi and therefore has a completely different meaning. Note: suffixes for tense and mood can be added to the end of the new form of the verb as the suffixes for voice are part of the verb stem. E.g. tacibuha (I taught), tacibura (I will teach) etc.

The seven voices (note the two directional voices count as one voice) are:

1) 主动 Subjective

This is the normal voice of the verb and does not take any suffix. E.g.

tacimbi - To study

2) 使动 Active (-bu-, -(m)bu-)

This voice shows that you are doing the action to something or someone. You would usually use the case marker ‘be’ to show what you are doing the action to. E.g.

bi simbe manju gisun tacibuha - I taught you Manchu

bi imbe genebuhe - I let him go

3) 被动 Passive (-bu-, -(m)bu-)

This voice shows that the action is being done to you. You would usually use the case marker ‘de’ to indicate the direction of the action. E.g.

bi tere de tantabuha - I was bashed up by him

4) 方向去 Dir (to) (-na-, -ne-, -no-)

This voice shows the direction of an action and is similar to English ‘to go’. E.g.

bithe hvlanambi - To go and read

si bithe udanaci - If you go and buy books

5) 方向来 Dir (fr) (-ji-, -(n)ji-)

This voice shows the direction of an action and is similar to English ‘to come’.E.g.

bithe hvlajimbi - To come and read

Xiao Wang ya erinde isinjimbi? - When does xiao Wang arrive?

6) 齐动 Cooperative (-ca-, -ce-, -co-)

This voice indicates that an action is being done by a group. It is similar to the English word ‘together’. E.g.

tese tacikv de eficembi - They are playing together at school

eten i forgon de urgulecehe - Together we celebrate in victory

7) 互动 Reciprocal (-nu-, -ndu-)

This voice is used to indicate reciprocal action. It is similar to the English word ‘each other’. E.g.

nadan gurun adandume nakarakv - The seven kingdoms fought each other without end

This form is the negative form of the verb. Manchu unlike English forms the negative form of a verb by adding suffixes to the verb stem. The two negative forms of Manchu verbs are:

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Present negative

-rakv

ararakv

Don’t write

Past negative

-hakv (-hekv, -hokv)

arahakv

Didn’t write

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Some further examples of the negative form are:

bi harbin de genehekv - I did not go to Harbin

bi manju gisun be gisurerakv - I don't speak Manchu

3) Interrogative

This is the question form of the verb. The interrogative form has both a positive and a negative form. The negative form is then further divided into a present and past negative interrogative form. The negative interrogative from is basically formed by adding -n to the end of the negative form of the verb (see table):

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Interrogative

-o

ararao?

Are you writing?

Negative Interrogative (present)

-rakvn

ararakvn?

Are you not writing?

Negative Interrogative (past)

-hakvn(-hekvn, -hokvn)

arahakvn?

Did you not write?

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Some further examples of the interrogative form are:

si abalara de indahvn gamambio? - Do you take dogs when you go hunting?

si xiao wang be tuwarakvn? - Do you not see Xiao Wang?

si harbin de genehekvn? - Haven't you been to Harbin?

4) Imperative

The imperative form is the form of the verb that is used when you want to tell somebody to do (or not do) something. In Manchu there is a polite imperative form, a negative imperative form and a normal imperative form (see table):

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Imperative

ara

Write!

Imperative (negative)

ume ……. -ra (-re, -ro)

ume arara

Don’t write

Imperative (pol 1)

-rao (-reo, -roo)

ararao

Write please

Imperative (pol 1)

-ki

buki

Please give

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Some further examples of the imperative form are:

tuwa (look!)

inde ume tuwara - Don't look at him

si gala be oburoo - Wash your hands please

minde tere bithe be buki - Can you please give me that book

5) Optative

The optative form is where you want another person to do something. There are three different optative forms in Manchu (see table):

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Optative 1

-kini

arakini

May he write

Optative 2

-cina

aracina

I hope you will write

Optative 3

-kini sembi

marakini sembi

I want you to return

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Some further examples of the optative form are:

si ere buda be jacina - I hope you will eat this food

bi simbe harbin hoton de genekini sembi - I want you to go to Harbin

6) Desiderative

The desiderative form is where you want to do something. It corresponds to English I want to, or I will. Note the -ki form of the desiderative can also be used as a polite imperative. There are two different desiderative forms in Manchu (see table):

This converb modifies the following verb and can be used to link several verbs. It also expresses simultaneous action, or can be used to start a quote. E.g.

ai baita be arame genembi? (what are you going to do)

yacin gvlmahvn sakda niman i boode efime genehe (the black rabbit went to the old mountain goat's house to play.)

suwe ai erinde gurime jihengge? (when did you move here?)

ajige xanyan gvlmahvn jabume:... (the small white rabbit said:....)

2) Subordinative -fi

Refers to a sequence of actions where one action is completed before another one begins. It is like English 'then', and also a bit like 'because' E.g.

bi genefi tuwaki (I will go and (then) have a look)

ajige yacin gvlmahvn lafu sogi be gaifi, hendume:"yeyede baniha!" (the small black rabbit took the bok choi and then said: thank you grandfather)

yacin gvlmahvn ningge jetere jaka akv ofi, geli sakda niman i boode sogi baime genehe (As the small black rabit had nothing to eat, he then went to the old mountain goat's house to ask for more vegetables)

3) Conditional -ci

This is the conditional converb and is similar to English 'if'. E.g.

bi tuwaci (if I look)

jalan de suwe akvci ergen de jurgan akv ni (If this world did not have you all, then life would have no meaning)

si Harbin de geneci (if you go to Harbin)

4) Durative -hai (-hei, -hoi)

This converb is used to express that an action occurs or continues at the same time as another action is performed. E.g.

necimbihei yabumbi (to continuously invade)

5) Terminative -tala (-tele, -tolo)

This converb is used to show that an action occurs up to a certain time.

aratala (until he writes)

tetele (till now)

6) Instrumental -tai (-tei, -toi)

This converb is used to show that an action is being forced

bucetei daharakv (I will not submit even if I die)

7) Preparative -nggala (-nggele, -nggolo)

This converb is like English ‘before’

utala inenggi onggolo (several days ago)

8) Concessive -cibe

This converb is like Enlgish ‘although’

tuttu bicibe (although it is like that)

9) Alternative -ralame (-relame, -rolame)

This converb is used to show that two actions are being performed at the same time

bi yaburalame tuwambi (looking as I’m going along)

10) Simultaneous -mbime

This converb is used to show that one action is occurring (or not) while another action takes place

si baita be sambi sembime, ainu takarakv (while you say you know about the matter, how come you don’t?)

This table is a list of all the irregular Manchu verbs and their irregular forms. Note a blank space indicates that this form of the verb is regular. Note verbs where the suffix ‘-fi’ becomes ‘-pi’ or ‘-mpi’ are not included.

Adverbs are words that modify other words except for nouns. Adverbs usually express the time, place or degree of an action and typically answer questions such as how?, when? why? or where? Manchu adverbs can be primitive adverbs which are indeclinable words such as ‘inu’ (yes) or they can be formed by adding suffixes (usually case markers) to the end of nouns, or pronouns. Most numerals can also be used as adverbs.

ajige yacin gvlmahvn ningge jetere jaka akv ofi, geli sakda niman i boode sogi baime genehe - As the small black rabit had nothing to eat, he then went to the old mountain goat's house to ask for more vegetables

Beijing ni niyengniyeri forgon de edun amba, damu aga muke komso - In spring in Beijing the wind is strong, but there isn't much rain.

gebu adali akv bicibe , daci gemu emu hala - Although the name is not the same, they originally have the same surname